How do I get started making my own knife ?

F A Q, as I think it is called in "Internet language".
On our home page, many people have posed that very question. And there are a lot of answers ! I will try to give some of them here.

One way to get started is to sign up for a course, where you and other "students" will be guided through the different disciplines on the way to create your first knives. In Denmark such courses can be found in many places, for instance:

- Joergen Hanghoei
Fasanvej 31
Ferritslev, Denmark

- Dansk husflidsselskab
Tyrebakken 11
Kerteminde, Denmark
Tlf. +45 65 32 20 96

- Local hunters (read the local papers, or ask the hunters)

- On this home page, as we will try to keep our list of upcoming courses, exhibitions and alike updated.

You also could borrow or buy a book on the subject, several different have been released. One way of finding these books is to go to the local library. Most libraries have several books on this subject, and the librarians are actually quite willing to help you find the right ones ! Look them over, and choose the one you like best.

Another possibility is to contact a knife maker you have heard about, read about in the papers, or seen at the Internet. We have all been trough a difficult, funny, exiting and complicated start in the knife making business. Therefore most knife makers are more than willing to spend some time passing advises or good ideas on to others, with the same passion as themselves. So don't be shy ! The worst that can happen is that you will be told something like: "sorry, but I don't have the time right now....", but I do believe it will be a rare occasion.

Where do I get hold of materials ?

Knife blades:

You can always approach a blade smith, as they are always willing to sell a blade. The problem often is to find them, but if you have gone trough the above list, you probably already have stumbled across a name or two.

For instance in some of the books there will often be references including addresses and/or phone numbers.

In Dansk Knivforening (the Danish Knife maker association) you will also be able to find blade smiths. The association publishes a very fine periodical including articles about blade smiths among other things. In the periodical you will also find advertising from blade smiths and shops selling blades.

The same could be said about Dansk Husflidsselskab. One can call the association directly, or use ads in their periodical.

Among the members of our own group (Holstebro Gruppen), you will also find a couple of very capable blade smiths. If they are contemporary out of blades for sale, they will gladly refer to other blade smiths we know of.

Lately – after knife making has become such a popular hobby – I have seen do-it-yourself kits for knife making in for instance hunters shops, hobby shops and the like. So maybe you should try to take a look in the local store ? In these shops the staff will often know of one or more local knife makers – and maybe be willing to establish contact.

how about wood for the handle ?

I fell like saying, that you could start in your own garden. But this is not entirely true. Because there are some basic demands for the wood, before it can be considered suitable for a knife.

First of all, the wood must be completely dry, so you wont risk that your handle will curl or split when you are completely or partly done with your work.
Secondly, the wood you use must be hard, to prevent the handle from being scratched when you use it.
If for instance you have a pine-tree table, you know it takes very little to dent or scratch it. Therefore I can not recommend pine wood. Choose a harder type of wood instead.
Third, the wood must look good (who wants to make an ugly knife ?). "Look good" is difficult to define. But it could be the colour of the wood. The grain of the wood. Knots or spots in the wood. This is the difficult part.

Most knife makers very soon comes to a point, where they become very particular when it comes to choosing a piece of wood. And therefore the price usually goes up. It is not possible to find big, firm knots with a beautiful grain on very many trees.

These better looking pieces of wood can be found through adds in the periodicals I mentioned above. Looking it up in a book about different kinds of wood also can guide you on the way. And when you get hold of a blade smith or a knife maker, you can ask him where he buys his wood. At the same time you can ask him what prices to expect.

Or, as I mentioned earlier, you can start in your garden or your woodpile. You could find suitable pieces of wood for your handles. For instance I have seen a very handsome knife with a handle made from plywood ! There was a really good-looking grain in that piece of wood.

The sheath: The leather and all the tools it takes.

Most larger cities have a store, that sells bags and the like. Those stores will often be able to supply the most needed basic tools. Some cities have a "hobby store", and there you also could find these things.
The store in Denmark, that can supply everything for leather work, is "Laederiet" in Aarhus. They simply have it all. And the owner and several members of his staff have attended knife seminars all over the country, so they have a personal experience with knife making, and will be able to guide you and give some good advise.

But working with leather is, at least for me, a rather difficult matter. Therefore it may bee a good idea to start with a course, to get the best advise to start with.
But if you have got hold of a knife book, you’ll find that most of them contain information about - in both photos and drawings - the tools and materials the author uses for sheath making.

How do I do ?

When I’m about to make a knife, I always start out by drawing my blade on a blank sheet of paper. Put the blade on the paper, and draw a line around the blade with a pencil.
Then I draw a handle on the blade. This gives me a good idea what looks good. How long the handle should be. Whether it should be straight or curved.

When I have a sketch I’m satisfied with, I transfer the sketch to the handle. Then I start out with my carving knife. I always carve my handles. No machines or files, just a knife.
This is a very slow process, which I enjoy a lot. Because very often things happen on the way. I change my original idea. Maybe because certain patterns or knots appear during the work. Maybe because I can feel that what looked good on the paper doesn’t fell right in the hand. If I had worked with a belt grinder, I probably wouldn’t have discovered such a "failure", but would have stuck to the original draft.

During my work, I often use guidelines on the handle to keep the work going in the right direction. I have seen a handle becoming crooked during the work. A guideline on top of the handle can avoid this problem.
I still find it very difficult to think 3-dimensionally. Therefore I often only work in one dimension at the time. But again guidelines on the end of the handle can be a big help.

Not until the handle is approx. 90% finished, I start mounting the blade in the handle. I start out by drawing the tang’s position on the handle. Then I use a 3 mm drill. I hold the handle in my left hand, while I carefully drill with the machine in my right hand.
Then I use a small special saw to work the hole in both size and shape, until it fits the blade exactly.

Once this fitting is done, I glue the blade in the handle. For this I use a 2-component glue, that won’t shrink when it dries up. In this way I make sure that the final result is solid - there are no holes between the handle and the blade. This is a potentially weak point in the finished knife.
The glue often will be relatively thick - and therefore difficult to put in the hole in the handle. To get around this problem, I heat the glue. This makes it much thinner, and therefore easier to pour in the handle. Actually I mix the 2 components on a piece of alu-foil, and when the mixing is done, I hold the foil over a candle for a short time. Then the glue will be ready for you to carefully - in a thin squirt - pour it in the hole in the handle.

When the glue has hardened for approx. 1 day, it’s time to do the last 10% of the work on the handle. And this is probably the most important part. You must use your eyes well, and proceed with the utmost care. Half a millimetre can make the difference between a usable knife and a very fine piece of craftsmanship.

Then I finish the knife completely. Sand it and polish it. And treat it with oil or something like that.

And then I take the measures for the sheath. I always use the knife as a last/ model for the sheath, and I sew it directly on the knife.

You’ll probably find a thousand opinions on how to do this. When it comes to leather work, experience really is important. The final result depends on how you make the holes with your awl, the way you take your measures, the way you sew, the way you work the leather.
I have taken several courses, read several books on the subject, and received advise from several people. But what I do when I make a sheath is a combination of all I have heard, seen and read. I have taken a good advise from one. Combined it with something another taught me. And I use my own method to make a certain detail.

In sheath making it has been a big help for me that I took notes on the way. As mentioned earlier, in most books on this subject you will find ideas and suggestions to how you should do.

But there is only one way to learn.
Try it.
You can’t listen or read your way through this.

And then "all the rest".

This could be:

Finger guards in bone, horn, metal, etc.
Handles made up of different kinds of wood.
Inlays in fibre, metal or other things
Sheaths with carving, pauting, silver fittings, etc.
Special hangers for the sheaths
And many, many other things.

You have seen it in the books. On the home page of Holstebrogruppen and others. In exhibitions throughout the country.
Many beautiful details and the most incredible, alternative use of materials.

I can only say, that all you have to do, is to get started. Try it, make your own mistakes, and feel the kick when you finally succeed in making a certain detail. Only your imagination reduces what’s possible. And then of course - if you fancy a certain detail - you can ask the knife maker how he or she made that. But otherwise - try it !